relief is gone! + how to safely rest the bass? + how much maintenance is required?

[juerg.lemke]

Hi everyone

I am a beginner. Please forgive so many questions in a single post, but I am a bit confused.

1- I don't have a vertical stand for my bass. My place is very small, the floor is tilted (!) and I am afraid it would get end up crashing onto the floor very soon. When I am not playing it for a short while, I lay it down carefully on my bed with the head sticking out in the air (to avoid the knobs on the tuning machines from moving and thus detuning it; when I just layed flat out it on the bed it would become detuned because the knobs would move). The rest of the time it is stored (vertically) in the hard case it came with.

Is this a bad idea? Will leaving the bass with the head sticking in the air put too much "backwards" pressure on the neck? I just don't know how sensitive basses are.

2- I read my Yamaha's manual when I received it a couple of weeks ago and loosened the truss rod as the information in the sticky thread suggested was necessary (there was no relief). Then I tuned it. For a couple of weeks everything worked beautifully.

Now, after not playing for a couple of days, I find myself with the A, D and G strings producing this metallic, totally unmusical sound whenever I play them while pressing down on any of the first four frets. The A, D and G strings sound fine when played open or on any fret below the fourth one; but playing them while pressing down on those top four frets produces awful sounds. (The B and E strings work fine either open or pressing down on any fret.)

So, I went back to the sticky thread. Holding down the A string on the first fret and right below the end of the neck (using my elbow), there is now NO space between the string and the 8th fret (they are touching). The relief is gone! Is this normal? Might this be caused by letting the head hang as I described above?

3- I guess this means that I need to further loosen the truss rod, something I am wary of doing because the manual suggests it is a risky thing to do. I thought basses did not require much maintenance; I am bit scared by this brand new instrument needing "care" just after a few weeks. Should I consider returning it while I still can?

Thank you in advance for any help!

Regards

Juergen

[pkr2]

You'll probably find that for the first few months that adjustments will be needed more frequently. After several months the wood will become more stabilized and fewer adjustments will be needed.

Out of your options, keeping it in a hardshell case on a reasonably level surface will give it all the support that it needs. I doubt that the weight of the neck hanging out in mid air would hurt anything. They really aren't all that delicate.

Just avoid leaning it against a wall, supported by the headstock against the wall.

Go ahead and adjust the relief again.Loosen it one quarter turn at a time and give it a couple or three hours to settle in.

[Kindness]

1. Don't worry about it.

2. Your neck has lost relief and your truss rod is too tight. It's totally normal for the neck to shift some as the weather changes. Nothing to worry about. Just as before, loosen the truss rod and let the string tension pull a little bit of relief into the neck.

Any time the bass buzzes in the first 5 frets or so and not above them, there is too little relief. When the bass buzzes past the 15th fret, but not above it, you have too much relief. If it buzzes evenly along the neck, you have the right relief, but you need to raise your bridge saddles to increase the action.

3. Loosening the truss rod involves very minimal risk. In fact, in many cases it helps to completely loosen the truss rod at some point to put a dollop of heavy grease on the threaded end of the truss rod so the truss rod nut will thread even smoother. The real risk comes when over tightening the truss rod. It is something you should be aware of. As long as you are aware of it, you are very unlikely to do any harm. It is the people that don't know to be careful and just turn and turn and turn and turn... the nut until something pops.

None of the basses I play require setting up every few weeks and I expect yours will settle down too. For the time being, think of it as a good chance to learn how to setup your bass. Return the bass only if you don't like how it plays/sounds.

Hope that helps!

[juerg.lemke]

Thank you for your replies! I have loosened the truss rod and will wait a couple of hours to let it settle.

Kindness wrote:

Any time the bass buzzes in the first 5 frets or so and not above them, there is too little relief. When the bass buzzes past the 15th fret, but not above it, you have too much relief. If it buzzes evenly along the neck, you have the right relief, but you need to raise your bridge saddles to increase the action.

Just for my reference: when you guys say "above the n-th fret", you are actually referring to those frets physically *below* that fret (when you are holding your bass), right?

Thanks!

Juerg

[Kindness]

I'm glad you gave me a chance to clarify that point. Typically above means higher in pitch. Thus, the 12th fret and above is 12th fret and the higher sounding notes. However, I was trying to use your nomenclature in my post and I messed myself up. Here is a clarified response:


"Any time the bass buzzes in the first 5 frets or so and not any of the higher sounding notes, there is too little relief. When the bass buzzes above the 15th fret, but not any of the lower sounding notes, you have too much relief. If it buzzes evenly along the neck, you have the right relief, but you need to raise your bridge saddles to increase the action."

Further, if the notes between the 5th and 12th frets buzz, but not from 0-5 or 12-end of the fretboard, you have a back-bowed neck and really need to loosen the truss rod.

All of the reference to specific frets above is just a generalization. Think of it more as dividing the fretboard up into thirds. If it buzzes near the nut, add relief. If it buzzes near the end of the fretboard where the highest sounding notes are, remove relief. If it buzzes on the middle third, you really need to loosen the truss rod.

[juerg.lemke]

Got it, thank you so much!

Juerg

[pkr2]

I really don't mean to be critical, but my experience dictates that buzzing above the 12 fret (between bridge and 12th fret) indicates a saddle adjustment that's too low.

All buzzing is not caused by relief problems.

[Kindness]

Originally Posted by pkr2

I really don't mean to be critical, but my experience dictates that buzzing above the 12 fret (between bridge and 12th fret) indicates a saddle adjustment that's too low.

All buzzing is not caused by relief problems.

I agree not all buzzing is caused by relief problems. See above.

Originally Posted by Kindness

If it buzzes evenly along the neck, you have the right relief, but you need to raise your bridge saddles to increase the action.

[Redhot6]

Originally Posted by pkr2

I really don't mean to be critical, but my experience dictates that buzzing above the 12 fret (between bridge and 12th fret) indicates a saddle adjustment that's too low.

All buzzing is not caused by relief problems.

True, most truss rods do not span the entire length of the neck into the heel or that far, so frets 15-20 on fenders or like 18-24 on other basses (you get the idea, are not effected by the truss rod. they should stay perfectly level at all times.

[stanger503]

well another thing that no one has really pointed out is just plain unlevel frets....cuz that def causes buzzing lol and thats no fun....but he did say things were b e a utiful before he messed with it so maybe it isnt that at all....just throwing it out

[Kindness]

Good point. It is a new bass from a company that mass produces basses. It could certainly benefit from a leveling and crowning (name one major company that actually does this?), but I think you are right that it is probably not the main problem.